I'll just say I'm less scared of the Rays than I am of the Yanks. Which by default means I'm more scared of the Yanks--but in reality, I'm not scared at all so it doesn't matter. But I think the Yanks have a better chance of making the playoffs than the Rays because they can bash the hell out of enough crappy teams to get the wild card, especially if they get Teixeira. If the Rays were to make it to the playoffs, they'd have a better chance of winning series' than the Yanks, though. Provided their starters haven't all completely tired themselves out by then. But again, I don't think either of these teams is a threat to us, and I'm not even sure either gets the wild card--they've got three other teams battling for it, and four if you include Detroit, which you should.

Interesting roundtable discussion. Thanks for linking to it. I guess everyone agrees that the bullpen is the biggest headache and that Francona is doing a great job. I can't wait for the second "half" to begin. One more day without baseball.

Jere, people keep saying that Yankees can bash their way to a good season, but the fact is that they haven't been doing that much bashing. Even assuming Cano and Melky have better second halves, the line-up is old and will have more injuries and more slumps...and there's as much chance the starting pitching will get worse rather than better. I agree that neither the Rays nor the Yankees figure to take the race down to the wire, but as bewteen the two, I'll take the Rays, easy.

Maybe now that the Yanks have Richie Sexson, my nickname for him will gain more acceptance. It's one of the nicknames I'm most proud of and I hope you all enjoy it:

"Rickey Genderson."

(That's a soft G.)

Jack, I'd love it if the Rays finished way ahead of the Yanks. I'm still not trusting it's a guarantee, though, and that has as much to do with the Rays petering out as it does the chance that the Yanks can still beat the crappier teams. I mean, every year I say, This is the year the Yanks miss the playoffs. But then I watch a few games and despite their problems, it's never quite as bad as that of whoever they're playing. And all I mean by "bash" is hitting overcoming pitching, which they have done to a degree so far. But like you say, with their pitching problems now, it's not like I'd be surprised if the falling-apart lineup doesn't keep bailing them out.

"First of all, I do not care how many wins a pitcher gets creditedwith. It's a statistic that is many decades out of date; in fact, once you realize a pitcher has *never* been able to control how much run support he gets, the stat is pretty much worthless on its own."

I totally agree. To my mind, Beckett is just a better pitcher than Matsusaka, wins and losses not withstanding. And poor Wakefield. All those close games where he pitched like a champ and still took the loss because of crappy run support.

I'm not really defending Lugo. That was just my usual bit about how (although he has been bad) he may not be quite as horrific as everyone thinks he is.

Lugo sucks, yes, but if we had Derek "Who Has Done Nothing But Win Since He Arrived In The Major Leagues" Jeter playing shortstop for us, we'd actually be stuck with a shortstop who reaches base even less frequently than Lugo!!